Check the Status of Your Application
To check the status of your application, you can contact the Office of Graduate Admission or use our Online Web Status Check. You will need your assigned BC username and ID number to log on. If you did not receive these credentials, you can contact the Office of Graduate Admission.
application checklist
An application to the Lynch School consists of:
- Application Form
- Application Fee
- Personal Statement
- Letters of Recommendation
- Resume
- Transcripts
- Standardized Admission Tests
- Writing Samples
Application Fee
A non-refundable application fee of $60 is required for all degree
and non-degree applications. Applicants have two payments options:
- Pay by credit or debit card via the web; use this link to take advantage of the pay online option. You must already have an application on file to use this payment link--you will need your application confirmation ID. If you do not have this number, you can contact the Office of Graduate Admission.
- Pay by check or money order made payable to Boston College, via regular mail. If you are applying online, please print a copy of your confirmation page and send your check/money order and the confirmation page along with the rest of your paper materials in one package to the address above. If you are applying via paper application, please include your check/money order with all of your materials in one package to the address above.
The application fee is waived for Boston College Fifth-Year Program
applicants. The fee is also waived for applicants involved in Teach
for America, the Jesuit Volunteer Corps, the McNair Scholars Program,
and the Institute for the Recruitment of Teachers.
Personal Statement
The statement of purpose, usually two or three pages in length, describes your academic and professional goals and any experience relevant to the program to which you are applying. This is an opportunity for you to demonstrate your writing skills as you describe your future plans, expectations, and aspirations. Please be sure that your full name and intended program are included on the pages of your personal statement.
If you are applying to the Donovan Urban Teaching Scholars Program, please describe your interest in urban teaching and experience you have had working in any capacity in an urban setting.
Letters of Recommendation
Applicants must download and fill out the Letter of Recommendation Cover Form before providing the form to the recommender. The information on this form will allow us to match your document with your
online application.
- Letter of Recommendation Cover Form
- Please provide your full name as you typed it on the application form along with your intended program, concentration, degree, and term of entry
- 3 letters of recommendation are required of doctoral applicants, with at least two from academic sources (professors familiar with your academic work) and one or more from a practical or applied setting.
- 2 letters of recommendation are required of master's applicants. These should be from academic sources. Master's applicants with significant relevant professional experience may submit additional letters of reference from supervisors.
Ask your recommenders to place their letter in an envelope you provide for them, seal the envelope, and sign it across the seal. As indicated on the recommendation form, recommenders may prefer to mail their letter directly to our data processing center. It is also acceptable for them to submit a letter without the recommendation cover form. Photocopies of letters are not acceptable. Letters on file with university placement offices are acceptable, however, if sent directly by the university and signed by a placement official.
Resume or Curriculum Vitae
Resumes are required for doctoral and master's applicants.
Transcripts
Official transcripts, bearing the official seal of the institution and the signature of the registrar, are required for all previous post-secondary education. Certified copies are acceptable, but photocopies are not. We only require one copy of each transcript.
Request that the registrar or appropriate official of each institution at which you enrolled in undergraduate and/or graduate course work send copies of your transcript to you. The school official should seal your transcript in an envelope, sign across the seal, and return the sealed envelope to you. Any documents in languages other than English should include a certified English translation, in addition to the original language document.
Students who file applications prior to the completion of their undergraduate work must subsequently send a final transcript, showing all
coursework, degree granted, and date of degree to the Office of Graduate Admission, Financial Aid, and Student Services in Campion Hall 135. This is necessary for final confirmation of an offer of admission to the Lynch School. You should arrange to have this final transcript sent to the above address as soon as you have completed your present course of study, and prior to enrollment. Your offer of admission could be rescinded if we do not receive an official copy of this transcript before the beginning of your first term.
Standardized Admission Tests
Official test scores must come directly from the testing agency. Applicants should make arrangements to register for admissions tests well in advance of application deadlines to assure that the test results will arrive in time. All test results must be received on or before the application deadline.
The Graduate Record Exam (GRE) is offered electronically and it takes approximately three weeks for us to receive the results. We will get an electronic transmission of any GRE scores identified by the applicant with the Lynch School code below. For GRE tests taken prior to the application year, please notify ETS that you would like to have the scores transmitted to the Lynch School, using the same code provided below.
The GRE General Test (Verbal, Quantitative, and Analytic Writing) is
required for:
- All Ph.D. applicants
- All applicants to the master's programs in Counseling Psychology
- All applicants to the master's programs in Secondary Education for Mathematics or the Sciences
- The Lynch School's GRE Code is 3218
Applicants to all other master's programs are required to submit GRE General Test scores or scores from one of the following standardized admission tests:
- Miller Analogy Test (the Lynch School's code is 1194)
- LSAT
- GMAT
- MCAT
We do not accept the MTEL, Praxis, or other teaching licensure tests during the admission process.
If you will be submitting the LSAT or the GMAT, you will find that
these tests are only reported by testing agencies to law schools and management
schools. You may have the score sent to the Boston College Law School and the
Boston College Carroll School of Management. Please call or email to alert us
so that we can retrieve the scores from the appropriate school.
For test dates and sites, visit the ETS website or call ETS at 609-921-9000.
Applicants for whom the Miller Analogy Test is an appropriate test should contact Harcourt in San Antonio, TX, at 800-622-3231 for information about testing centers and dates.
Writing Samples
Doctoral applicants are asked to submit one piece of work that demonstrates
their writing ability. This writing sample may be an academic term paper, a
published work in which you are the primary author, a training manual or curriculum
that you have created, a clinical case formulation, or another representative
sample of your writing.
Master's applicants are not required to submit a separate writing sample.
Please be sure to attach a cover sheet to your writing sample that clearly
shows your full name, date of birth, and the program
to which you are applying. Do not attach your writing sample to other pieces of your application (e.g. your personal statement).